In this image made from KRT television, a huge portrait of late North Korean leader Kim Jong Il is carried in the snow during his funeral procession in Pyongyang, North Korea, Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2011.

North Korean state television at 2 p.m. Korea time began showing a funeral procession for Kim Jong Il.

A giant limo carried a giant portrait of Mr. Kim on its roof. It was followed by a station wagon that bore his casket on top. Mr. Kim’s son, Kim Jong Eun, and several other ranking members of the North Korean elite walked with the casket as the wagon pulled in to the Kumsusan Memorial Palace, where the body had been lying in state for the past week.

Korea Real Time live-blogged the event with the commentary in this post.

North Korea’s state news agency gives us some detail about how far the procession will travel: “The servicepersons and people of the DPRK are bidding last farewell to Kim Jong Il along the 40-odd km-long route.”

KCNA, the official North Korean news agency, announced the start of the “Ceremony of bidding last farewell” at 2:05, just a few minutes after the TV images began.

One of the striking images at the start is of a dozen or more black Mercedes-Benz sedans, of various vintages, lined up following immediately behind the wagon with Kim’s casket. Those black cars were followed by even more white-colored VW cars.

The limits of North Korean TV’s ability to follow the procession became apparent fairly quickly. About 20 minutes after the start, they cut to interviews of mourners. The route is either too long or they don’t have enough cameras and transmission trucks to cover it all.

The production work by North Korean TV is quite impressive. They’re splicing in various shots of groups of mourners–some very animated in their grieving–into footage of the procession. It looks very cold there. Snow is falling.

“The people, the mountains, the streams and the heavens are weeping tears of blood for having to bid the final farewell,” said an unidentified male soldier.

“The falling snow brings me even more tears because of thoughts about the general’s toils,” said another weeping female soldier, also unidentified. “It’s as if my heart is being torn to pieces, that’s our general.”

The North Korean TV images are being relayed in South Korea by six cable TV stations. There are the two news channels, YTN and Y News, and the four new general-interest stations that got started on cable earlier this month – JTBC, Chosun TV, Channel A and MBN.

Each have their own commentators who are offering color about the scenes.

One sequence shows the crowd on the route about four or five people deep on each side. Most mourners appear to be fairly calm and somber, but the groups that the cameras focus on are more distressed. Some are flailing their arms and swaying in grief.

The heavy snow is particularly poignant, according to KCNA: “The feathery snowfall reminds the Korean people of the snowy day when the leader was born in the secret camp of Mt. Paektu and of the great revolutionary career that he followed through snowdrifts.”

It’s not clear whether the footage is in fact live, but there’s one indication it might be and there are technical difficulties: we’ve been shown a scene of an empty road on the route for the last few minutes.

More from the one-on-one interviews on the route: “This is the road that the father general used to come instruct us at our school,” said an unidentified man, who wasn’t wearing a military uniform. “I’m choked up; it’s heart-rending to have to send our general off on this road today.”

South Korean TV stations have cut away from the North Korean TV feed now. The live feed continues to show an empty road. And the big mystery is: are they going to a ceremony or are they just driving the casket around the streets of Pyongyang for the masses to see and weep over?

After a strong start, it looks like the North Korean TV production operation may have hit a wall: we’re being shown footage that is clearly a repeat of earlier sequences, with the same groups of distraught mourners.

Clearly, we’re seeing the limits of North Korea’s vaunted propaganda machine. Whether or not the pictures are live, North Korean state TV doesn’t have enough equipment to cover a procession like this and have been unable keep the motorcade in view for long stretches of the procession. The early images gave the impression that we’re accustomed to seeing of a strong, organized regime. But as this has gone on, we see thinner crowds and the unlit city against the snowy sky.

We appear to be getting new footage of the motorcade from a new location. After the main vehicles pass through there’s a very long row of support vehicles, including what looked like a TV van and a few trucks carrying flowers.

The crowds are shown breaking up in some locations as the main vehicles pass through. Some people appear to be seeking a final look at the casket by walking into the road and looking towards the head of the procession. They are pushed back to the edge of the road as the trailing vehicles come through.

It’s very hard to work out what’s new footage and what’s recycled from earlier in the broadcast, but the motorcade appears to still be moving. The question is where to? There are still lots of distraught Pyongyangites being shown. The older citizens seem to be the most upset, particularly the women. “General, you can’t leave!” one woman screamed as she sobbed.

The crowd is bigger in Kim Il Sung square but it’s a long way short of filling up the open spaces. The people here look better dressed, in warmer clothes. A few people look like they’ve been pre-selected for interview. “We will now band together behind comrade Kim Jong Eun and carry on, giving our all,” says one woman.

The motorcade heads through the Arc of Triumph, which was modeled on the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. It’s getting dark here in Seoul, but the footage from Pyongyang shows still-bright afternoon skies, suggesting we’re watching a recording.

It’s certainly been a well-coordinated effort to make it seem like it was live. But there’s been confusion all day. South Korean media reports this morning said this procession would begin at 10 a.m. Then, shortly after noon, there were reports from Russian and Chinese news agencies inside Pyongyang that the funeral had started. And then North Korea’s state TV started these images at 2 and, a few minutes after that, the state news agency said that the “bidding farewell” ceremony had begun. Well, technically they weren’t lying, I suppose. But it now seems like they were referring to something that started around noon or 10, or at this point, who knows when?

If you need any more of the flavor of the television commentary so far, here’s what was said as the motorcade was heading to Kumsasan: “The tears of blood we shed before the General’s picture today are not just the sorrow and bitterness we feel, but are also about our oath to accomplish the ideal of our country that the General had put his great efforts for his life. We swear that we will realize his dreams for love of the country and will raise the country for our descendents.”

Kim Jong Eun and other senior figures line up on a stage in front of the Kumsasan Memorial Palace and bow as a four rows of soldiers fire off their weapons in a military salute. They are now inspecting a parade of goose-stepping soldiers.